Chicken (1)
After Suhyun's stream, users who had been shocked by what they thought was a suicide attempt began rehashing her broadcast and giggling among themselves.
Some people were mulling over the surprisingly cute moments from her stream, while others tried to stir up drama by telling them to take the red pill. There were also those who focused purely on the suicide attempt issue.
After the stream ended, Suhyun looked at those posts.
"…Is this… talent?"
She couldn't stop her heart from pounding.
It felt rewarding. She'd skimmed the community and everyone seemed to be talking about her, probably because so many people already knew who she was.
"…M-my heart."
Her small heart began pumping furiously. It felt like her chest was about to burst. Unable to calm down, her body started trembling.
"Ugh…!!"
Nausea surged up.
"Th-this is too much… I can't hold it in."
She jumped off the bed as fast as she could, covering her mouth, and limped toward the bathroom. This always happened when she got too excited. The revulsion rose and she couldn't suppress it. Every muscle in her body tensed, and eventually even her stomach refused to obey, leaving her no choice but to vomit.
"…Q-quick, ugh…!!"
She tried to hold it in while rushing to the bathroom, but her foot caught on a rolling plastic bottle.
She fell.
Up to that point it was fine. She'd been clenching hard, so she thought she wouldn't throw up. But the bottle that tripped her ended up under her stomach.
"Kuhak?!"
In the end, she made a mess on the floor.
"…Hic……"
A single tear barely slipped out.
"At least I feel refreshed……"
She felt better. Using that as consolation after emptying her stomach, she cleaned up the floor and returned to bed. She really needed to tidy up the trash a bit.
"…Of course, not yet."
She decided that once another year of trash piled up it would be truly troublesome, so she'd deal with it then. She opened the group chat with Minwoo and Jiwoo.
She sent the message with a bright smile. She was proud of herself—she could now casually message the kids and wait for replies.
"…I'm glad they treat me so comfortably."
It couldn't have been easy for them to treat a parasite like her that way. They really were remarkable kids. Kids worth raising with all that effort.
"…!!"
Replies came flying back immediately.
She'd wanted to reply more softly, but lacking the knack, that was all she managed. Even so, Jiwoo reacted enthusiastically.
"…Ugh, my heart again."
Her heart ached. The silver lining was that she'd kept sleeping pills nearby this time. They were the ones she'd taken back when she was still Mija and her insomnia had gotten so bad she couldn't function. She had to attend school as a student, after all. She didn't need them now, but she did again.
"…If anything happens."
She'd take them and shut everything off. She hoped she wouldn't have to vomit again.
Jiwoo's message arrived once more.
"This kid… how much debt is she trying to make me owe her?"
It was starting to feel like even an 8:2 split wouldn't be enough to repay. Honestly, it was burdensome, but—
"…Trash like me doesn't have the right to say that."
Someone like her couldn't voice those complaints. She was supposedly the good older sister who'd raised the kids alone splendidly, but in reality she'd barely paid them any attention and just worked. No wonder the kids had found it hard to even talk to her. She'd thought everything was for the kids, but now even that seemed wrong.
"……"
She kept reading Jiwoo's messages, but couldn't bring herself to reply. She felt too sorry. Had she inflicted deep wounds on the kids when they were young? In the end, wasn't she no different from their father to them?
"…Thanks."
But she couldn't say she was sorry. To kids who still tried to take care of even an incompetent older sister like her, all she could offer was gratitude. Gratitude would reach their hearts more than an apology.
When she didn't reply, Jiwoo looked for her.
She couldn't answer. Then a call came through immediately.
Unnie…!! Is something wrong?!
"…H-hiik?!"
The moment she answered, the loud voice startled her so badly she dropped the phone. But realizing it wasn't her father, she felt relieved and picked it up again to speak.
"…H-hello."
Sorry, Unnie. Are you okay?
Jiwoo apologized right away. Suhyun told her she was fine.
"I-I'm okay… Yeah, really okay."
That's a relief. By the way, Unnie, did you catch a cold? I can hear you sniffling.
"Ah… Yeah, I c-caught a cold."
Jiwoo had perfectly caught the sound of her crying. Feeling scared, Suhyun forced a bright smile and just said it was a cold.
Should I come over now? Are you having a hard time?
"No, I'm fine."
Really? I was going to bring chicken.
"…!!!"
Unnie, do you like chicken?
Jiwoo asked. Suhyun didn't want to cause any more trouble. She really didn't, but the taste of the chicken she'd eaten for the first time in this life lingered in her mind, and she ended up acting on instinct.
"…Yeah, I like it."
Jiwoo said she understood and told her to look forward to it.
Got it, look forward to it. I'll go buy some now.
"A-ah, no! It's fine! You don't have to come."
I want to hear Unnie's voice.
Jiwoo said that with a soft laugh. Suhyun countered that they could just text, but—
Unnie's texts don't have much emotion, so it doesn't feel like a conversation.
"…Ugh."
She'd been hit right where it hurt.
And I want to see Unnie's face. I've got plenty of time since finals are over.
"…Y-you should be earning tuition."
Unnie earned it all for us.
"……"
Thanks, Unnie. I'll bring chicken. What kind do you like?
"…Huh?"
Ah… you probably haven't tried any. Hmm… I'll just pick something!
With that, the call ended. Suhyun stared blankly at the disconnected phone screen.
"…I-I need to hide the sleeping pills."
She didn't know what Jiwoo would think if she saw them, so she quickly hid the pills elsewhere. Then she roughly shoved the trash to both sides to clear a path and prepared to welcome a guest. Her left leg didn't listen, and her body—broken from hard labor since childhood—creaked painfully, but somehow she managed to clean up.
"Huff… huff… so tiring……"
She flopped onto the bed and muttered that, then began waiting for Jiwoo.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. The wait grew longer, but—
"Hehe… everyone must like me."
Looking at the community posts about her, the waiting didn't feel so hard. Afterward, she searched for various VTubers. These were people she'd never seen in her previous life, so she looked them up diligently.
"…Since I'm streaming without a voice, maybe I'll have some competitiveness."
Smiling at that thought, she figured doing the occasional half-cam stream wouldn't be bad either. Especially in situations like now, when people suspected she was a guy.
"It's not that I feel bad about it."
Still, it hurt to see people insulting her over it. As she started imagining the future with all these thoughts, the doorbell rang with a terrifying sound inside the house.